


hide your teeth

by Kalgalen



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22549024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalgalen/pseuds/Kalgalen
Summary: Daisy is falling asleep. It's going to take some convincing to get her to actually get some rest.
Relationships: Jonathan Sims & Alice "Daisy" Tonner
Comments: 3
Kudos: 70
Collections: The Magnus Archives Rare Pairs 2020





	hide your teeth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gazimon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gazimon/gifts).



Daisy is falling asleep.

Jon can tell, even though she's trying really hard to hide it. She's been staring at the same page for a solid fifteen minutes, only barely catching the book before it slips out of her hands on several occasions; her eyes keep going unfocused, staying closed for a suspicious amount of time every time she blinks, and she's sagging on her chair in a way that suggests she might be about to melt off of it entirely.

Yet she stubbornly glares at her read, too exhausted to actually understand any of the words dancing on the paper. She huffs and puffs, drawing herself back up - then Morpheus comes a-knocking again, and Daisy Tonner, the monster who'd given nightmares to Jon before he'd filled that position himself, dozes off.

After some time, Jon speaks up:

"You should get some sleep. You look like you need it."

Daisy starts, surprised by the sudden break in the comfortable silence. Then she straightens up, visibly stifling a yawn; there's an audible _pop_ in her back when she stretches.

"I'm fine," she protests. "I'm good. Just -"

She struggles to find a word that isn't a synonym of "tired". Jon stares at her, unimpressed.

"If you're worried about me, don't be. I can deal with those statements on my own."

"Not worried," Daisy says. She looks pale, wrung-out, confused; Jon has seen her expression often before on his own face after too-long hours of fruitless research. "You're safe here." Jon raises an eyebrow, and she amends: "As safe as you can be, in any case."

Jon laughs, because the situation is so absurd there's not much else he can do. "All right. What's wrong, then?"

He closes the file in front of him; thankfully Daisy mirrors him, putting her book aside. She sighs.

"Nothing. I'm - I just don't want to be alone, I guess. Not a stupid fear to have, considering who we've got roaming the corridors."

Jon frowns at the reminder of Peter Lukas' existence. "Fair, I suppose."

Daisy leans her head on the side. "Right. And since Basira is away, I - I don't want to wake up to an empty bed."

There's a moment of silence. Daisy is staring dejectedly at her hands on her lap, looking miserable; Jon is looking at a random point on his desk, but also somehow at Daisy as well. He considers what he might be about to offer - but not too hard, as not to give himself the occasion to come back on it.

"Do you want me to -" he starts.

"Do you think you could -" Daisy tries at the same time.

They stop at the same time, exchange a surprised glance, an embarrassed but amicable chuckle.

"Go ahead," Jon offers.

"No, no," Daisy says awkwardly. "You first."

"Right," Jon says. _Please don't kill me,_ he thinks. "Does - would it help if I - huh, slept with you? Like, beside you?"

He's trying very hard to look nonchalant and aware he's failing; he doesn’t know what to expect - Daisy to laugh at him, perhaps, or refuse, and start avoiding him? However, when he can finally bring himself to look in her direction again, she seems relieved.

"I'd like that, yes." A hesitant pause, as she looks to the side. "That's what I wanted to ask, actually. But don't feel like you _have_ to! It's just - I really don't think I'll be able to rest if I'm alone. And, honestly -" Another break, and her eyes meet his again, resolute but soft. "You could use some sleep too, Jon. How long has it been since you last slept?"

Jon grins. "I've slept the sleep of the dead, Daisy. It's all the sleep I'll ever need."

She rolls her eyes, unimpressed. "Cut it out. You're starting to _look_ dead, maybe you could do with a nap."

"Ow." He dramatically puts a hand over his heart, fake-wounded, and Daisy can't quite fight off a smile. "Is insulting people how you get them into your bed? If so, I'm not surprised you'd have to guilt me into agreeing."

"Guilt you?" Daisy laughs; some of the weariness has lifted from her shoulders, the lines in the corner of her eyes melted from fatigue to humor. "I seem to remember you asked me -"

"Only because you wouldn't have otherwise!"

"I was about to! You interrupted me!"

The playful banter dissolves into quiet chuckles, then a companionable silence.

"We should go," Daisy prompts, getting up. She places her book on a side table where she'll be able to find it the next day, and waits as Jon puts some order in the papers on his desk.

They exit his office then; the rest of the Archives is already dark and still, and they waste no time reaching the part of the tunnels where rudimentary bedrooms have been set. Jon usually sleeps slumped over his desk these days, and only when he sees Daisy's makeshift nest of scratchy blankets and sagging pillows he realizes how much he's missed the concept of lying down to sleep.

Daisy toes off her shoes and takes off her hoodie, folding it over the nearby chair, then slips under the covers. The bed cracks a bit as it receives her weight, and Jon wavers. She looks perfectly at home there, and if the mattress seems molded to her body, the second dip in the foam definitely is not Archivist-shaped.

"Are you sure -"

She cuts him off. "Get in there, Sims." Yawns. "Don't make me get up again to wrestle you to sleep. Please. I can't physically do it right now."

He hesitates some more; Daisy's looking at him with the one eye that's not closed and half-buried in pillows, and it's evident that if he waits long enough she'll just fall asleep before he has to make a decision. But he promised - he's promised her she wouldn't have to sleep alone.

So Jon mimics Daisy, untying his shoes and setting them next to hers. He turns the lights off and climbs in bed beside her, and as soon as he's lying down she throws an arm across his shoulders.

"Gotta make sure you're sticking around," comes muffled by the pillow.

And, well. That's fair enough, he supposes.

"Thank you," he says quietly.

Only silence answers him for a moment, and he thinks she's drifted off to sleep until she mutters:

"What for? You're the one who's accepted to be my teddy bear for tonight."

Jon smiles in the dark. The low luminosity only allows him to guess the edges of the shelves on the walls, but he knows he could see them clear as day if he only tried.

"For being a friend, I guess." _For making me feel human,_ he doesn't say.

The arm around his shoulder tightens, then pulls him closer. He finds himself curled in the embrace of Daisy's arms, her breath warm on his forehead where she suddenly presses a quick kiss.

"Same here. You're a good guy, Jon."

The words are quiet and slurred, and her breathing slows a few seconds later, a proof that Morpheus has triumphed at last; Jon doubts she'll remember the fine details of that conversation when she wakes up - but he will remember, keeping it tight in his heart, fragile and beautiful like a gifted flower, pressed for keeping.

The regularity of Daisy's breath quiets the thoughts racing in his mind, and he finally allows himself to sink in the darkness as well.

  
  



End file.
